Process of purifying light petroleum oils



Sept. 9 1924,.

' F. H. SMITH ET AL ROCESS OF PURIFYING LIGHT. PETROLEUM OILS Filed July 51, 1922 @5 and 3@ of acid.

Patented Sept. 9, 1924.

tsotaz aram oFFiCE.

FRANCIS H. SMITH, OF vEL SEGUNDO; AND GEORGE J'. ZISER, 0F LOS ANGELES, GALI- FORNIA, ASSIGNORS T0 STANDARD OIL COMPANY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, OALIFOlRf NIA, A CORPORATION 0F CALIFORNIA.

PROCESS OF PURIIYING LIGgHfT PETROLEUM OILS.

Application iilei l'uly 31, 1922. Serial No. 578,606.

To all lwhom t may concern.'

Be it known thatwe, FRANCIS H. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at El Se do, in the county of Los Angeles tate of California, and GORGE J. ZISER, a citizen of the United States, residf ing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State of California, have invented a new and useful Process of Purify- E@ ing Light lPetroleumOils, of which the following is a specification.

rlhis process relates to a method of treating light petroleum oilsor distillates to prol duce a purified motor fuel or lamp oil. 35 An important object of the invention is to produce a motor fuel or lamp oil substantially free from any gums, resins, tarry matter or petroleum acids.

A further object of our invention is to 2@ produce a motor fuel or lamp oil which will not darken on standing or form gumsre`sins or -tarry matter.

Another object of the invention is to produce a motor fuel or lamp oil which will not corrode copper, or tarnish" or leave a residue in a copper vessel when evaporated at 212 F.

Another object of our invention is to accomplish such purification without the use Another object of our invention is to produce a purified motor fuel or lamp oil with v x a minimum loss.

p A still further object of our lnventlon isY 35 to produce a more keconomlcal process of refining light petroleum oils.

' Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description In the distillation -of petroleum oils, the

w' various distillates so obtained contain certain quantities of gums, resins, tarryimatter, petroleum acids andtaryforming constituents. It is well recognized in the art that these gums, resins, tarry matter, petroleum acids and tar vforming"constituents must be removed to form lthe highest' grade of motor fuels or lamp oils. The methods of treating the distillates vary greatly according to the qualityof-the distillate to be treated.V In.

a large number of cases it has hitherto been foun necessary to treat these distillates with sulphuric acid. This acid treatment has been required? for two reasons:

First, to remove all the gums, resins or tarry matter and second, to remove all those constituents in the distillate which tend on standing to form these gums, resins, or tarry matter., The sulphuric acid treatment involves the loss of distillate'of as much as 5 per cent.

We have discovered that only a small percentage of the distillate so removed by the sulphuric acid is gum, resin or tar Jforming constituents. We have further discovered by introducing an aging step before treating the distillate, substantially all of the unstable hydrocarbons and tar forming constituents may be polymerized bythe action of heat or light, and that such aged distillate will not', after the removal of the polymerized constituents, tend to darken or subsequently form any gummy matter. We have `further discovered that substantially all of the unstable hydrocarbons or tar forming constituents can be practically completely pol merized by aging in a tank or container or a period ofe about two weeks. We have still further discovered that substantially all of the products of polymerization such as gums, resins, tarry matter may be removed from the distillate by treatment with an acid treated clay such as is described in the pending application of Chappell, Davis and Moore,` Serial No. 488,952, filed August 1st, 1921. We have further discovered that anyy petroleum acids contained infl said distillate may be removed by such clays along with the gum, resins or tarry matter if such petroleum acids are first neutralized with an alkali. We have further found that such treatment of distillates may bel economically accomplished in an appz-1- .ratus such as is herein described.

With the foregoing preliminary explanation the preferred method of treatment andapparatus may be more readily undersoodiby reference to the following draw' 1 s: I o y igure 1 is a diagrammatic view of an pparatus suitable, for 'conducting our rocess. H Fig. 2 isan enlargedl view of the connec- .on shown at 17. A

An aging tank 1 is connected by a line 2 n a pump 3 which connects through a line with a settling tank 8. The bottom of the ink 1 is provided with a cone bottom, 'hich is connected by lines H, E and G `to 1e suction pipe 2 between the tank 1 and um 3. The 'pipe E is'also connected to 1e llne 4. C indlcates a further line which lay be employed as a 'discharge line for nent agents .used in" treating the oil or disllate in the tank 1. Valvesy S, K, I, D, F, and B are supplied to the various lines as [early indicated in Figure 1. The settling Lnk 8 is provided with a swing pipe 9 con ected to` a line 10. The line 10 leads rom the settlin tank S'through a pump 11 a iilter 12. 1 5r 12 to a storage tank 13. The line 4. is rovided with a Ti-connection 22 to which connected a line 'T -smaller than the line The line 7 is provided with a valve 5 as idicated and leads to a mixing tankA 14. l clay' feeder tank 18 is provided -with a onveyor 19 and empties into the mixing mk 14. A line 1 5 is provided with valves D and 21 and leads from the mixing tank 4 to the line 4. A centrifugal -pump 16 is rovided in the line between the valves D and 21. The line 15 communicates with 1e line 4 through a`con1iection 17 which is rovided with an elbow orjet 23 terminat'? 1g in the center of the line '4.and posioned todischarge in the directionof flow 1 the ipe 4. A valve' is provided in the ne 4 etween the connections 17 and 22. The method of treatment of the distillate ud operation of the apparatus is as folrws: Thedistillate to be treated is placed 1 the aging tank 1. The distillate is re- Lined in this tank until-substantiall all atural polymerizing action is comp eted. 'hls aging or polymerizing process with a rmiliar motor fuel requires `about two 'eeks. The polymerizing `process is comlete whenthe distillatereaches its maxilum color. The distillate is then tested )r petroleum acids and if such acids exist l appreciable .amounts the distillate is neu- 'alized-by processes well known in the art. Vhen it is necessary or desirable to neutral- :e the distillate a suiiicient quantity of wa- :r solution of caustic or other suitable base xpable of neutralizing the petroleum acid resent is introduced -into the tank 1 irough a line A. After the neutralization, 1e spent base may be withdrawn through 1e linesH and C. The distillate lWith or 'ithout this neutralizing, as. the particular pipe 24 leads from the til-- case may require,.is then .th-rough'y the line 4 by the pum 3. By .operation of the valves 5 and 6 su cient of the distillate' is run into the tank 14 through .the side I ine 7 'to mix or entrain all the required treating clay. The clay is introduced intothe. mixdclay `feeder tank, which has been previously lled with the pulverized acid treated clayl ing -tank 14 by the conveyor -19 from the issued to Paul W. Prutzmam November 15,

'1921, or other adsorbent material having the similarproperties Vof `adsorbing from the distillate produced 'color bodies, ma be used. With .a familiar motor fuel a out onesixteenth of the total distillate to bel quantity of clay' required varies with thev distillate to be treated and Aranges from 2,000 poundsof clay to 10,000 gallons. df distillate to 2,000 pounds of clay to 800,000 gallons of distillate. In the majority of cases we have been enabled to use the' smaller quantities of clay. The commingled distillate and clay ass from the mixing tank 14 through the l1ne- 15 to the line 4. The distillate and clay are discharged into'f'thel center of the line 4 by the elbow 23 anddommingle with the distillate which did not pass through the mixing tank. Thus alll the distillate is commingled and treated with the clay before^passing into the settling tank. The 1.

commingled distillate and clay mixture is allowed a suitable time for settling in the tank 8 and then the distillate is drawn oi through the swing pipe 9 by the pump 11, and filtered to remove the entrained clay by the filter 12. The filtered distillate is then run into the storage tank 13. It is not necessaryfto clean .out the spent clay in the set- 'tling tank 8 except after' long use since the quantity of clay normally used 1s very sli ht.

n'important feature of the.l apparatus described is the separation of a portion .of

the distillate for mixing with and entraining the treating clay, and Kthen'introducing sa1d mixture into the body of the distillate While they process and apparatus ide? urposes'of scribed' are wellsuited. to the our invention it is-understood -t at our Yinvention is not limited to the precise'forms.- herein described, .but isfof l the scope embodierl inthe following claims.

saving in the operation ,We claim:

l. lie process of treatin those light hydrocarbon distillates whic contain `compounds that, upon standin 'form color 5 bodies, which process inclu 'es agin the distillate until the distillate has deve oped substantially its maximum color, and then removing the produced color` bodies by contacting thedistillate with an adsorptive ma- El@ terial.

2. The process of treating those light hydrocarbon distillates A which contan combodies, `which process includes aging the distillate until the distillate has developed substantially its maximum color, neutralizing the "acids present in the distillate, and'then contacting the distillate with an adsorptive material to remove such color material and neutralized material.

Signed at El Segundo, California, this 24th day of July 1922.

FRANCIS H. SMITH. GEORGE J. ZISER. 

